'The Killer' Review: John Woo Remakes His Own Action Classic

After years in the desert, director John Woo has returned to target practice, and while his aim may not be what it once was, it's worth remembering that, at least on screen, aim was never the point. Rather, it was the pose, the gaze, the scowl as you run, jump, flip, slide, and stare. In Woo's world, guns kill people, but gunfights kill viewers.

Last year, the silent film “Silent Night” found the Hong Kong legend attempting to make himself heard again by American audiences, but it didn’t quite go as planned. Now he’s returned to one of his seminal showdown epics, 1989’s “The Killer,” with a Paris-set rewrite (co-scripted by “L.A. Confidential” Oscar winner Brian Helgeland), an international cast that includes French superstar Omar Sy and a direct-to-streaming debut on Peacock. Watching at home won’t replace the experience of seeing Woo’s iconic action orgies in a theater. But if you watched the Paris Games this summer on Peacock, you might tell yourself this is just another round of all-or-nothing (film-wise, what else?) for an esteemed cinematic Olympian. It’s a worthy silverware.

By the way, Sy isn’t the one playing Chow Yun-fat. It’s Nathalie Emmanuel, a former “Game of Thrones” actress — a gender-bending move that may not seem all that novel anymore, but it helps us reimagine the stakes. Emmanuel has a laid-back charm that doesn’t betray the role’s ruthless edge. Dubbed the Queen of the Dead in the Parisian underworld (and by day a homebody who loves crossword puzzles and her pet guppy), Emmanuel’s transplanted Brit Zee pulls off high-powered hits (of the “they deserve it” variety) for her mentor Finn (Sam Worthington in an Irish accent), who works for a fearsome gangster (Eric Cantona).

But during a concert where they take out a group of bad guys in a nightclub, a young American singer (Diana Silvers) is blinded. Feeling remorse, Zee lets her live, but her bosses criticize her for not finishing her off too.

Visiting the hospital in disguise to complete the job, she has second thoughts and offers to save the singer. But that puts Zee in the crosshairs of a dedicated cop (the charismatic Sy) who’s investigating a missing drug shipment and believes there’s more to the story. It seems like a certain guilty killer with a protective streak and a lawman who bends the rules in pursuit of the truth should find a friendly middle ground — which, in Woo’s signature visual signaling, means guns drawn face to face but firing over each other’s heads to kill the real threat. (Their mutual hearing loss is supposed to be forgiven later.)

Old-school Woo is not hiding. There are pigeons. The music is not cool at all. And remembering that we wouldn’t have franchises as memorable as “John Wick” or “The Transporter” without Woo’s mayhem is what lends a gentle nostalgia to this inferior but still enjoyable remake.

On the downside, there are two understandable concessions to modern cinema: the monotony of digital cinematography and the transparent artificiality of CGI bloodshed, neither of which can compare to the epic work of the earlier films and what real celluloid can do for the heightened drama of slow-motion madness.

But on the plus side, Woo has lost none of his love for the practical bravura of elaborate, ridiculous stunts, nor any of his skill with camera movement and editing that complements choreography. He may have repressed some of his more sentimental and tragic impulses, but he definitely shows himself willing to engage in the climactic fight in a deconsecrated church, which is wonderfully funny, but also, in a playful way, a personal statement about the intimacy that quality action cinema should create.

Is it odd to suggest that, 35 years later, after being desensitized by the synthetic kinetics of superheroes, Woo's over-the-top style now seems more realistic? Decide for yourself as you watch a master not so much try to outdo a classic as earn a modestly enthusiastic encore. If we're being honest, though, I hope he leaves “Hard-Boiled” alone.